Research Policy

Researchers :

Fergusson College (autonomous), Pune

ResearchPolicy and Practices

The success of an institution in attaining itsobjectives is greatly reliant upon the orientation of the faculty with all theaspects of research initiatives, being undertaken by the institution/ college. Toachieve this, the College needs to lay foundations for research and makeefforts to create awareness among all stakeholders regarding importance ofquality research. The college has been working consistently to create awarenessof research especially among the teacher’s and students since 2010. Miniresearch projects have been one of the important programmes in all the schemesof college which were submitted to UGC and DBT. With all these effortssignificant results have been achieved especially in creating research cultureamong students and teacher’s who have been working as Mentor’s to thesestudents.

This policy covers roles andresponsibilities of the committee which looks into affairs and needs forresearch of the college and has been placed in a broader framework whichprovides guidelines for teacher’s/ researcher’s in the college, initiativestaken by the College and Guidelines on Authorship in Scholarly or ScientificPublications of the College.

The College has established Research CoordinationCommittee (RCC) to look into the daily affairs of research needs of the collegein terms of human resource, infrastructure, administrative support and specialfacilities for research.

Role of RCC:

RCC isresponsible for maintaining policy and guidance and for promoting awarenessabout research and sensitizing all stakeholders regarding quality research.

Identify and include research as one of the key programmes in all collegeproposals (wherever possible) and implement it.

Motivateyoung teachers to apply for research fellowships/ grants through variousfunding agencies in India and abroad. Provide all practical and proceduralsupport to such teachers.

Caterto needs of research centres and keep a follow up of such centres regardingcompliance of funding agencies/ affiliating university.

Provideall practical support to Research Students (Ph.D. students, Project fellows andPost Doctoral Fellows) with reference to facilities, submission of reports andany issue related to accounts and finance.

Conducttimely meetings of RCC and document its minutes/ proceedings and upload it oncollege website.

Providesupport in all aspects related to the researcher/ research project/ any other.

Some of the initiatives taken by the RCC are asfollows:

Promotionof research, innovation, extension and the generation of intellectual capitalthrough various sensitization programmes and by inviting expertise in thosedomains.

Keeping“mini research projects” as one of the important programmes under UGC- BasicScientific Research Grant, UGC-College with Potential for Excellence (CPE)Scheme, UGC- College of Excellence Scheme and under DBT STAR college Scheme/Status.

Encouragingteacher’s and students to participate in seminars/ conferences and presenttheir research and provide financial assistance to teacher’s through Seed Moneyfrom our parent organization – Deccan Education Society.

Organisationof AVISHKAR” as project research competition in association with affiliatinguniversity (SPPU). This programme focuses on orienting undergraduate as well aspost graduate students to do innovative research. Experts from various fieldsinteract with students in this programme.

Cateringto research needs which may result in innovations and procurement of high endequipments.

Introductionof extra credits for students participating and presenting research papers atState, National and International Levels.

Guidelines for Researcher’s/ Teacher’s:

Teacher’s/Researcher’s doing research and publishing papers need to publish theirresearch only in peer reviewed and UGC listed journals.

Itis mandatory for a teacher/ researcher to mention name of college as author’saffiliation.

Forresearch papers published under various scheme of UGC/ DBT/DST, the author’sneed to mention name of funding agency in the Acknowledgment section.

They must avoid publication in predatory/ dubious journals or participant.

Any publications in predatory / dubiousjournals or presentations in predatory / dubious conferences should not beconsidered for academic for selection, confirmation, promotion, performance.

Any attempt of compromised academicintegrity should be challenged, questioned and derecognized at all levels.

Ensure the safety and well-being of those associatedwith the research.

10. Recordand publish their methods and results in ways that are open to scrutiny anddebate.

11. Guidance from Committee on PublicationEthics (COPE) : San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) : theLeiden Manifesto : the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity Academyof Science 2018, Policy Statement on Dissemination and Evaluation of ResearchOutput in India 2018 by the Indian National Science Academy and resources fromUGC-CARE website may also be referred for this purpose.

12. College has registered with "Urkund"- selected by INFLIBNET centre for all the Indian Universities under the aegisof MHRD. Therefore each and every document has been checked via antiplagiarism softwareand after generated/ analysed check documents proceeds for final submission.

13. College is committed to health, safetyand environmental protection in all its various programs and activities. Thiscommitment is congruent with - and important for achieving - overall mission ofadvancing, disseminating, and preserving knowledge, and striving to educateleaders in the service of society. All members of the college community(including students, faculty and staff) share responsibility for safety, andshall comply with established governmental environmental health and safetypolicies norms and procedures.

14. Wherever animal experimentation isinvolved or maintaining laboratory animals is needed, permission of Committeefor the purpose of Control and Supervision on Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA)to be followed.

Guidelines on Authorship in Scholarly orScientific Publications:

Researchershave the freedom to choose their own topics of research, it is highly desirableto make research multi-disciplinary and socially relevant.

Researchmust be peer reviewed prior to it being published. Research is placed in thepublic domain before that it must goes through peer review process.

Resultsof research should be published in an appropriate form.

Anyonelisted as an author on a paper should accept responsibility for ensuring thathe or she is familiar with the contents of the paper and can identify his orher contribution to it.

Individuals who do not meet therequirements for authorship but who have provided a valuable contribution tothe work should be acknowledged for their contributing role as appropriate tothe publication.

In addition, authors should comply withthe disclosure requirements on the Conflict of Interest.

LeadAuthor-The first author is usually the person who has performed the centralexperiments of the project. Often, this individual is also the person who hasprepared the first draft of the manuscript. The lead author is ultimatelyresponsible for ensuring that all other authors meet the requirements forauthorship as well as ensuring the integrity of the work itself. The leadauthor will usually serve as the corresponding author.

10. Co-Author(s)-Each co-author is responsible for considering his or her role in the projectand whether that role merits attribution of authorship. Co-authors shouldreview and approve the manuscript, at least as it pertains to their roles inthe project.

11. ExternalCollaborators, including Sponsor or industry representatives and individualswho meet the criteria for authorship should be included as authors irrespectiveof their institutional affiliations. In general, the use of “ghost-writers” isprohibited, i.e., individuals who have contributed significant portions of thetext should be named as authors or acknowledged in the final publication.Industry representatives or others retained by industry who contribute to anarticle and meet the requirements for authorship or acknowledgement must beappropriately listed as contributors or authors on the article and theirindustry affiliation must be disclosed in the published paper.